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Gartner Group: Is Marriage to Unix the Answer to Enterprise Linux?

"Some in the Linux community resent being closely allied to
Unix, claiming Linux can hold its own. However, many key Unix
vendors are beginning to declare a future in which Unix and Linux
coexist. By running Linux application binaries on Unix as the host
OS, vendors want to extend the life of Unix as an enterprise
mission-critical environment while capitalizing on the increasing
momentum of Linux applications development. We believe that
users should seriously consider the "hybrid" Unix/Linux deployment
model but exercise caution on how and when it makes sense (see Note
1). The other alternative is to limit Linux only to front-end
Web-serving applications and run the mission-critical database and
transaction processing on back-end servers on Unix or other more
scalable OSs."

"Many users, especially high-level managers, are still skeptical
of deploying Linux in mission-critical applications. The current
Linux kernel version does not scale well. High availability is
still in the early stages of development. Enterprise applications
are scarce, and backup and recovery solutions are beckoning. The
decision to substitute Linux for legacy environments will require
re-evaluation of skills, development projects, service contracts,
service-level agreements, internal help desk operations and
partnering. To avoid or ease such a transition, a Linux-Unix
affinity strategy may be advisable. The objective is to develop on
inexpensive and assorted Linux platforms, and deploy to
enterprise-robust Unix. Leading Unix vendors, such as Sun
Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, see this as a win-win
approach for themselves at the high and low ends of the market (see
Note 2). As they rush to support native Linux on Intel servers in a
high-volume play, they can also extend the interest in high-end
Unix by supporting runtime Linux on Unix back ends. Thus, should
Linux scale to encroach on midrange and high-end Unix, vendors can
be in a position to offer both a native Linux implementation (such
as McKinley generation IA-64 systems) and continued support for
their Unix servers (on RISC or IA-64)."